Monday, August 21 2006 14:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In a major reprieve to RJD Chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, the Supreme Court today (Aug 21, 2006)declined to cancel the bail granted to them in a disproportionate assets case and also dismissed two PILs seeking the change of the Special Judge in Patna trying the case.

The three-member bench of the court by a majority verdict of 2:1 dismissed the two PILs filed by senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi and JD(U) leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh 'Lallan', in which they have also challenged the quashing of income tax cases against the Railway Minister and his wife.

The majority judgement delivered by Justice K G Balakrishnan and A R Lakshmanan said that the PIL was not maintainable. In a dissenting judgement, Justice S H Kapadia said that the PIL was maintainable.

Justice Kapadia said that the Income Tax (IT) Department should have filed an appeal against the IT Appellate Tribunal order and he also said that the procedure adopted for the appointment of Additional District Judge Munni Lal Paswan as Special Judge to try disproportionate assets case was not proper.